2002 Honda Indy 300
The
The race was marred by extremely wet conditions. The initial start resulted in a multi-car crash injuring Fernandez and Takagi. CART officials allowed teams to repair their cars or pull out backups. Postponing the race was not an option due to international travel logistics, as cars had to get to Fontana, California by Tuesday US time to allow for conversion to superspeedway configuration and the 500 mile oval race scheduled the following weekend, and logistics of the street course circuit, as organizers were contractually required to have the entire course cleared by the next morning. The race restarted on lap 3 with slightly improved conditions, but went back under yellow at lap 10 where it would remain until the race was called at lap 40.
Michael Andretti's team believed the race would be called once the race passed official race status of the full lap past the halfway point (35 laps plus one) of the original distance (70 laps, but the race was shortened to 50 laps by officials after the start crash), but officials instead waited until lap 40 to force each car to make two pit stops. This gave Domínguez his first career win in the slowest race in CART history. For 2003, rules were changed to allow the race to be called prior to halfway with only half points being awarded. This rule was not implemented by IndyCar after the 2008 reunification.
Qualifying results
Pos | Nat | Name | Team | Chassis | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() |
Cristiano da Matta | Newman-Haas Racing
|
Lola B2/00 Toyota
|
1:30.204 |
2 | ![]() |
Bruno Junqueira | Chip Ganassi Racing | Lola B2/00 Toyota
|
1:30.214 |
3 | ![]() |
Tony Kanaan | Mo Nunn Racing
|
Lola B2/00 Honda
|
1:30.427 |
4 | ![]() |
Kenny Bräck | Chip Ganassi Racing | Lola B2/00 Toyota
|
1:30.616 |
5 | ![]() |
Paul Tracy | Team Green
|
Lola B2/00 Honda
|
1:30.731 |
6 | ![]() |
Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | Lola B2/00 Toyota
|
1:30.810 |
7 | ![]() |
Shinji Nakano | Fernández Racing | Lola B2/00 Honda
|
1:30.936 |
8 | ![]() |
Dario Franchitti | Team Green
|
Lola B2/00 Honda
|
1:31.040 |
9 | ![]() |
Oriol Servià | Patrick Racing | Reynard 02i Toyota | 1:31.087 |
10 | ![]() |
Adrián Fernández | Fernández Racing | Lola B2/00 Honda
|
1:31.351 |
11 | ![]() |
Jimmy Vasser | Team Rahal
|
1:31.369 | |
12 | ![]() |
Michel Jourdain Jr. | Team Rahal
|
1:31.709 | |
13 | ![]() |
Christian Fittipaldi | Newman-Haas Racing
|
Lola B2/00 Toyota
|
1:32.223 |
14 | ![]() |
Alex Tagliani | Forsythe Racing | Reynard 02i Ford-Cosworth | 1:32.300 |
15 | ![]() |
Patrick Carpentier | Forsythe Racing | Reynard 02i Ford-Cosworth | 1:32.367 |
16 | ![]() |
Michael Andretti | Team Green
|
Lola B2/00 Honda
|
1:32.439 |
17 | ![]() |
Tora Takagi | Walker Racing | Reynard 02i Toyota | 1:33.922 |
18 | ![]() |
Mario Domínguez | Herdez Competition
|
1:33.655 |
Race
Pos | No | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/retired | Grid | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 55 | ![]() |
Herdez Competition
|
40 | 2:00:06.524 | 18 | 20 |
2 | 32 | ![]() |
Forsythe Racing | 40 | +2.2 secs | 15 | 16 |
3 | 26 | ![]() |
Team Green
|
40 | +2.5 secs | 5 | 14 |
4 | 12 | ![]() |
Chip Ganassi Racing | 40 | +2.7 secs | 4 | 12 |
5 | 10 | ![]() |
Mo Nunn Racing
|
40 | +4.8 secs | 3 | 10 |
6 | 33 | ![]() |
Forsythe Racing | 40 | +7.8 secs | 14 | 8 |
7 | 27 | ![]() |
Team Green
|
40 | +9.9 secs | 8 | 6 |
8 | 1 | ![]() |
Newman-Haas Racing
|
40 | +12.3 secs | 1 | 7 |
9 | 39 | ![]() |
Team Green
|
40 | +13.5 secs | 16 | 4 |
10 | 9 | ![]() |
Team Rahal
|
40 | +13.6 secs | 12 | 3 |
11 | 11 | ![]() |
Newman-Haas Racing
|
40 | +14.8 secs | 13 | 2 |
12 | 8 | ![]() |
Team Rahal
|
40 | +16.2 secs | 11 | 1 |
13 | 52 | ![]() |
Fernández Racing | 40 | +17.6 secs | 7 | |
14 | 4 | ![]() |
Chip Ganassi Racing | 40 | +18.1 secs | 2 | 1 |
15 | 44 | ![]() |
Chip Ganassi Racing | 24 | Mechanical | 6 | |
16 | 20 | ![]() |
Patrick Racing | 11 | Mechanical | 9 | |
17 | 51 | ![]() |
Fernández Racing | 0 | Contact | 10 | |
18 | 5 | ![]() |
Walker Racing | 0 | Contact | 17 |
Caution flags
Laps | Cause |
---|---|
0–2 | Yellow start |
10–40 | Wet track conditions |
Notes
|
|
- Average Speed 55.849 mph
External links